1st intriguingly brief video peek at the set of Whedon's S.H.I.E.L.D.

The folks at ABC may not have made a decision yet on Joss Whedon’s S.H.I.E.L.D. series, but that hasn’t stopped Marvel from promoting the heck out of the pilot shoot. The latest sneak peek? Our first real (albeit short) look at the set.

Staff members have been tweeting photos from the set for a while now, and Marvel’s own “spy” Agent M has been posting daily set reports from behind the scenes ever since the cameras started rolling. But the latest is the most interesting and actually pulls back the curtain on a live set ready for a shoot.

We don’t get to see much, but the set obviously shows a re-created outdoor street with New York-style buildings. If nothing else, it’s easy to see that ABC has loosened the purse strings to let Whedon make a big-budget experience for the small screen. It may not be to the level of The Avengers, but this series will definitely be a few notches above the production values from the old Buffy the Vampire Slayer days.

The proposed series, which is honestly a lock for a spot on ABC’s fall schedule (unless the pilot is an absolute train wreck, which is unlikely with Whedon at the helm), will follow the comic-based Marvel homeland defense agency S.H.I.E.L.D. on missions that don’t quite warrant calling in Captain America and the gang. Makes sense, as Disney knows it has a cash cow on its hands with Marvel, and it's hoping it can start milking it on a weekly basis with a hit series at ABC.

Whedon brought in a who’s who of his old cohorts to help run the show, from his brother and sister-in law Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen (Dollhouse) to Jeffrey Bell (Angel) and Jeph Loeb (Smallville, Lost).

Do you think Marvel’s superhero world can work as a weekly series? Can Whedon balance the feature film theatrics with the small moments of a TV show in this universe?